Customer Reviews

Graduation Day

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

"Graduation Day" is an obscure yet interesting little slasher film. The movie doesn't really offer anything we haven't seen a million times before, doesn't really do anything spectacular with its miniscule budget, but it is an enjoyable movie nonetheless. I was a bit surprised to see Troma--those purveyors of abysmal cinema--distributing the DVD version of the film. I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised since Lloyd Kaufman occasionally recognizes he must give the public something worthwhile to balance out the junk that constitutes the bulk of the Troma canon. "Graduation Day" came out in the early 1980s during that halcyon time when slasher films ruled the roost (and the box office) thanks to motion pictures like John Carpenter's "Halloween" and Sean Cunningham's "Friday the 13th." Most of the films attempting to cash in on the success of the splatter genre faded into obscurity. Thanks to the advent of DVD, we can now see both the good and the bad entries in this memorable cinematic movement. If that means we must turn our eyes to Troma to do so, then so be it.

"Graduation Day" starts with an opening sequence so cheesy, so horrifyingly awful to behold, that it almost made me turn the film off. Imagine, if you dare, the camera panning across your typical high school track and field event. Since the film takes place in that painful gray area between the late 1970s and early 1980s, most of the people we see look so geeky that even Bill Gates would have stigmatized them. Feathered coifs, lame T-shirts, lots of smiles caked in braces, and a background song with a decidedly disco motif that had me grinding my teeth into powder nearly sent me running to the local mental motel. As bad as the first five minutes of "Graduation Day" is, there truly is a method to the madness. We see a young girl beating her feet around the track, straining to pull into the lead and finish first as her testosterone drenched coach roars her on to victory. The girl does win, but she collapses and dies immediately after crossing the finish line amidst roars of shock from the crowd. It turns out the hapless young lady trained so hard to compete in the race that she ignored her deteriorating health, as did her domineering coach. You just know after seeing this unfortunate incident that someone will seek bloody revenge for the now dead girl.

Someone does start turning the student body into mincemeat shortly after the track and field fiasco, with special attention paid to the other members of the track team. We know this because the killer, who is some doofus clad in a sweatshirt with a hood, has a team picture of the track jocks he holds up to the camera every chance he or she gets. Every time the murderer offs one of the dead girl's teammates, he draws a red 'X' over that person's face in the snapshot. The kids die in various tepid ways. One of the girls dies in the locker room, one jock gets his on a trail running through the dense forest behind the school, and one girl dies outside of a party at the roller skating rink (!). I would like to tell you the kills are memorable in a way that puts all other slasher films to shame, but I won't lie to you. The whole slice and dice situation is quite mediocre for the genre as a whole. Several subplots take up large segments of the film, such as the put upon principal dealing with angry parents, a geeky music teacher who sleeps with his female students, and the sister of the dead girl who arrives home from the Navy to confront her angry stepfather and the apathy of the student body. The overbearing coach gets screen time too.

So why is "Graduation Day" a memorable film possibly worth viewing? Maybe it has something to do with the in your face early 1980s atmosphere. Check out that party at the roller skating rink. Man, oh man is that scene about as close as you can get to a time warp back to the days of early MTV, New Wave music, and Valley Girl speak. The band banging away in the background alone should give anyone who lived through that time a serious case of the flashbacks. The presence of Linnea Quigley in one of her first screen appearances also speaks well for the film, or maybe not depending on your views. The best element of the film, however, is the warped conclusion. Up to the end of the movie "Graduation Day" just sort of meanders along, not quite sure of itself, but the film takes a dive into the depths of weird when we finally discover who has been dispatching some of the locals. The atmosphere and the conclusion helped "Graduation Day" when nearly every other element failed to deliver. Why, for example, is there a kid walking around in a football uniform at the end of the school year? I thought football season ended before Christmas. Sometimes it is better to avoid such pesky questions and instead focus on the positives.

Since Troma Films released "Graduation Day," you can expect a boatload of lame extras typical of every Kaufman and company disc. This one has an interview with Linnea Quigley, trailers, a lousy sketch on how to stage an arm dismemberment, and a shameless plug for Kaufman's book about filmmaking (By the way, if you need to learn how to make a film from a guy like Kaufman, you should probably keep you day job flipping burgers.). Give "Graduation Day" a chance if you like slasher films. Sure, there are films with more gore and better atmosphere, but there are also worse ones than this movie. What a ringing endorsement, eh?

Our tale opens w/ the unexpected death of a highschool track-star. Next, we find the dead gal's sister returning to town, just in time for graduation. That's when the teenagers start dying off in hideous and grisly ways! Yep, GRADUATION DAY is another teen / revenge movie ala PROM NIGHT, etc. This time we get Christopher George (GRIZZLY, DAY OF THE ANIMALS, PIECES) as the mean track coach, obsessed w/ perfection. We also get Linnea Quigley (RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, NIGHT OF THE DEMONS) as Dolores, a girl who just can't seem to keep her clothes on! Then, there's a young Vanna White (!) in a small role (alas, her clothes stay put)! GD isn't a bad movie, and it has enough humor and gratuitous nudity to move things along. Did I mention Ms. Quigley? Oh my!...

If you're expecting something like "Friday the 13th" or "Halloween" out of this, you only sort of get it. Theres a masked killer murdering teens, but it doesn't have the actual fun of F13's or the scares of the "Halloween" series. For the most part, it's pretty boring, in the same way "Prom Night" was, but even more so. Theres a TON of boring build-up, with teens and teachers having conversations, and stuff. The kills are pretty lame, too. However, it's not completely bad. It's actually pretty well made, and the directing is pretty good. You also get to see some cool clothes and hair from the early 80's, which was very enjoyable for me. But, again, it's mostly a snoozer, but it really doesn't deserve less than two stars. I sort-of reccomend it...

This is one movie that I'm glad I have in my collection. If you liked PROM NIGHT, and TERROR TRAIN...you'll like this one alot. It's one of those campy, suspense, who dunnit slashers...great find!

Of all horrors Ive seen this movie keeps you thinking and guessing.To all cult fans if you remember the toxic advenger this movie is done by the same people that did graduation day. Like it is presented at the begining the track runner student freaklishly dies when she races the other team.Her sister comes to vist the town area and the school where she goes.By that moment wierd murders begin to happen one by one each student is disapearing. There is a gym teacher involved (Christopher George)actor.and a strange guy student involved who was a good friend to the girl. So this goes on it gets you thinking ,is it the gym teacher or is it the student. Imbetween the film by seeing every one students the principal who is a bit of character as well takes the audience us watching this film start to get a good idea who it is! Graduation Day is a film to see if you love to pin point the plot. I enjoyed it you may too!

I really like this when it first came out, but after watching this again I am not sure why. It was poorly written, the directed, the effects are very run-of-the-mill, and the ending really doesn't hold up well.

The star of the track team in Any town U.S.A.(meaning Canada in the 80's) drops dead at a meet, her sister comes to town looking for answers and the kids start droping like flies.

Very little logic is used in this one and I must say it was better when I was 12.

If you're a big-time slasher buff who's not too hard to please, GRADUATION DAY is a good way to spend the afternoon watching. The kills are good and the heroine is likeable. (The plot has already been described by Amazon and by other reviewers, so I won't bother repeating them.)

However, there is one thing that really upset me watching this that in itself knocks this reveiw down one star, that is the opening introduction by Lloyd Kaufman before the movie itself begins. While talking about the film he rather callously says,"This film is ahead of it's time! It came out nineteen years before the Colombine shootings!" (I swear to God I'm not making any of this up.) To so causually mention a real-life tragedy in such a careless manner I felt was in such extemly poor taste. The movie itself is fine, but be warned about the introduction.

Ah the 80's. A good time for horror movie fans and CGI wasnt a factor in the movies, so everything looked real. This movie sounded like a winner. Of course, you'll never read a good synopsis followed by all in all this movie sucks. Troma owns this film and it fits them good. A track runner dies because well I never figured it out. The first kill takes awhile and the pace of the film is slow. The first kill was horrendous and it looked really cheap. There was only one real good kill and the rest of the film felt like it was too long and way to boring. If you like 80's film then maybe check it out but there is much better themed day horror films out there.

this movie is only good if ur looking for an old fashion slasher. its abit scream-esque but not as scary. the suspense is limited and the deaths are semi elaborate.

It's almost Graduation Day at the local high school but something tragic has happened as a track runner died from a heart attack and a mysterious psychopath stalks members of the High School track team, almost anyone in the school is a suspect as one of them could be the killer.

Starring Christopher George ("City of the Living Dead"), Vanna White and Linnea Quigely, this is a fine paced and fun no-brainer slasher movie that is one of your typical "Halloween" clones. Yes the acting is bad, the killer does look like a Fencer and the film does have some plot holes but this is an enjoyable killer movie with memorable kills like the man being skewered by a football with a sword in it and a good late 70's disco soundtrack.

This DVD contains a fair picture transfer with some miminal grain and decent sound and the extras include introduction by Troma president Lloyd Kaufman, interview with Linnea Quigley, Trailers to other Troma releases and more.

Also recommended: "Halloween Series plus 2007 remake", "Black Christmas (1974)", "The Prowler", "Sleepaway Camp Series", "Scream 1 & 2", "Maniac (1980)", "Friday The 13th series", "Cutting Class", "Prom Night", "Terror Train", "Twitch of the Death Nerve" and "Urban Legend".